/ 893 



THE LOCK-OUT 



THE LOCK OUT. 



ach : 'nt natut 



R( >BERT CUMMING 









•5 abilit\ nd. 

-A'/'V.I.V. 



CHIC VG< I : 

PRINT1 '•■ 



4/?S 






■^%^* 



l)-^ 






AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO 

HARRY HOLT, PETER DIAMOND, EDWARD MOODY 

AND OTHKRS OF DuQlJOIN, ILLINOIS, 

Who, by word and deed, at a time that put the manhood of the 
minority to the test, proved not only their confidence in me as a 
man and their love for me as a friend, but attested their unfal- 
tering devotion to the cause of freedom and right, which every 
advocate of ' ' Single Tax ' ' holds dear. 

Thk Author. 



ROBKRT CUMM1 NG 



Digitized by the Ihternet Archive 
in 2011 With funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/lockoutOOcumnri 



THE LOCK-OUT. 



Jn union there is strength that might avail, 
But, misdirected, giant forces fail. 
Behold our comrades of the sunless life, 
Firm-banded brothers in a hopeless strife, 
Ten thousand strong, in union staunch and true, 
In vain resisting their oppressors few. 

£hink not the evil here begins or ends- 
It far and wide o'er every land extends, 
For who oppression's galling yoke would bear, 
With Freedom beckoning him any-where ? 
The ebb and flow of man's affairs reveal 
The universal spread of woe or weal: 
Where Trade hath sign or Commerce sail unfurled 
'Tis felt, and wafted round and round the world. 

^ISTERS and brothers, know you not the wrong- 
That makes the many weak, the few so strong; 
That robs the toiler of his rightful share 
And burdens life with more than life can bear; 
Divides one family into "high" and "low" 
And fills the bounteous earth with want and woe; 
Calls Death to o'er-taxed victims ere their time, 
Till Hell itself might blush to own the crime ? 



TJ3 f Motli rtb 

( hi her depend i the hou i 

1 \u\ i "in th to the 

Who shares h< r treasures but as I01 
Wh( » for the right inothc 

Bu his wi 

\\ hil • the fthe landl 

In pla ■ 1 1 the | till, 

Where is the industry that buys consent 
But itl Lined in i til 

■• win) the owner of the needed hind. 
But can his own terms for its use commam 
What lord hut takes all life in need will 
For access to the soil — the right to li\ 
Then win e strikers strong enough hut must 

At a the lo. ain the crust ? 

In vain must all United Labor hope 
By mere inertia with this powV to cope; 
The landlord's will successfully d< 
All I host that on the strike relies. 

Would not the contest be as wisely planned 
To say Hold thou thy breath as Stay thy hand / 
In plundered swarm: reft of hive and flow'r 
Read your own fate and learn th' o] 
Turned out of doors, shut from the mine and field — 

■h is the strike, the lock-out —Who must y 
The land withheld at will the end invit* 
That for the scorn'd crust whets our .. 

Jin:', own the fish who own the r . 
They own the lal who own the Ian 

The sua tribes thrown upon the sand; 
Struggle in vain. Their futile e ich 

That you are do< now struggling shut 

Asgas] 1 h eal< 



i§TRiKE for the land or 3^011 shall strike in vain 
For Charity is but a show'r of rain 
Uponthe stranded fishes. Hold in scorn 
Aught that assumes you are dependent born, 
Beggarly pleas for an advance of pay 
Or fewer hours to be a working day ! 
Leave willing slaves to beg a lighter task 
And beggars, blind, a penny more to ask. 
Leisure and treasure 'wait you in the soil — 
Go, gird your loins and claim 3^our right to toil ! 

^n His own image God made man, and He 
Designed him upright — not on bended knee. 
With Fatherhood and Motherhood began 
Divine provision for the wants of man : 
With every mouth there comes a pair of hands 
And Heaven-lent value to the peopled lands. 
Hands meant for home and loved ones to provide ; 
Rent, as a fund for Public Wants supplied. 
As fills with nourishment the mother's breast, 
Which does a purpose and a law attest, 
So from the bosom of our Mother Earth 
Provision flows where social life has birth. 
As social growth and social needs expand 
So, in proportion, grows the worth of land — 
Distinct from structural value, wood or stone, 
Due but to social growth, to that alone, 
Thus yielding social sustenance. So here 
The purpose and the law alike are clear. 
What Mother Earth's bare bosom has to give 
Decaying empires need but drink and live — 
Drink from the fount that flows at need or call, 
Despoiling no one to provide for all ; 
The State maintain and streets and parks adorn ; 



rom want, n 
A nd be the \\ id< >\\ s 1 and the I iv 

That the t in peace alu 

Jhoughi nochil 

Thi . and worn 

With g • und ; aug i 

A.s Civilizat 

TJJhili ragged children swarm on ever} street, 
With s men I g a bite to eat, 

\\ hile strikes and lockouts everywhere abound 
And 1: e in hovels found — 

\\ ho boasts on Ith, our freedom, as a n 

But proves himseli a demagogue or \< ■ 

TJJroni may thrive usurp the soil 

And le\ \ " the right to toil, 

Bribe Courts and Senates, and, 'gainst Pi 
Usurp the functii >n al 

il fortun< ' high-M a vs. 

Special pri\ - and sul - ; 

But Comm n [nl rywhe i 

We stri\ e bless i m done ; 

That while I nj us! i >e enthrall, 

Th uef is vital and c< >nc< 11. 



3 1 STI< : - v 

S 1 he wand man mu ivhirl-wii 

The State that ru plund 

But bui its funVa] pi 
Ik-w are ! When Hui 
Stern Retribute >n mav 



'Tis then the scavengers of Fate have birth 

Who sweep corruption from the face of earth 

But not with causey brooms nor crystal flood — 

Alas, "They sweep with fire and cleanse with blood." 

(Unchecked oppression which the millions mourn 
Prepares the shackles for the race unborn, 
For Wrong triumphant over men to-day 
Tomorrow rules with unrelenting sway. 
Then strike for freedom, ere the bomb and brand 
Spread reeking ruin o'er an erring land ! 
The gory hands of mad, avenging Hate 
That strike at last, forever strike too late, 
For Vengeance, blind to friend and foe in wrath, 
Leaves, tempest-like, but ruin in its path. 



£he land by part and not by all possessed 
Explains the misery of the world oppressed ; 
And in the powers of taxation lie 
Alike the evil and the remedy. 

^HE fruits of labor are the lab'rers own, 
Ground rent is Causer's, — is the State's alone. 
Ground rent,w hich varieswith the worth of laud, 
Our equal birthright yields on every hand ; 
And rent, for all reclaimed, as it should be, 
Will make the land now and forever free. 
Tax but the unearned worth of land ; that done, 
Quickly the dog will from the manger run, 
And work for all as free as air abound 
On land and sea and underneath the ground. 
The full fruits of their toil will freemen bless, 



Since "No one will for others work for 1« 
Then he by working m earn." 

Thus strife will end. Let man tin- lesson learn! 
This is the law whose truth will make you free 
'flu- law of birthri I di\ ine d — 

"l' : loni's lav. ' Inis to free the land 

Masters ami tyrants shall in vain command. 

TJJha r more than freedom's soil need mortal warn 
To 'scape oppression and tin- tyrant's taunt ? 
With freedom blest the weakest may with scorn 
I >efy the will oi all the tyrants born. 
T»> sow m freedom, all the harvest reap. 
What master's terms could then disturb your sleep ? 
"Come back,' 1 he'd cry, "Til give you what you ask" 
The higher wages or the lighter task . 
u Come work for us,' 1 competitors would smile. 
"We know that we can make it worth your while." 
Thus will Inventions' powers he employi 
And ease and luxury by all enjoyed. 
As water seeks a common level, so 
Will every blessing unobstructed how. 

95)own with obstructions then on every hand! 
From trade sweep all restrictions - free the land! 
Untax your houses, horses, cattle, sheep, 

Make land unprofitable tor idle keep ; 
Untax your tables — laugh to see them groan 
Beneath their burdens, and relieve your own. 
Tax hut the worth of land and rat your till. 
Laugh while all industry invites your skill. 
Nay, /(/.v is wrong, — collect the word should he — 
The "unearned increment' 1 is Heaven's deci 
To equalize and keep our birthright fr< 



Heaven planned the "unearned increment" to give 

To each and all the equal right to live. 

Then take for all what God to all has giv'n — 

The "Single Tax" conveys the gift from Heav'n, 

Removes all bnrdens now on labor laid, 

Makes all men free and frees the law of trade. 

For social ills 'tis Nature's wond'rons wand 

The magic of whose touch will free the land ; 

Yes, every bond from hand and brain release 

And safely usher in the reign of Peace 

Despite the signs portentous now of ill 

Which well might with alarm the wakeful fill. 

Disguise it as we may, the listening ear 

The distant rumbling of the storm can hear ; 

But clouds will vanish from the darkening sky 

And all the world be blest with peace and joy 

If Law and Custom will but cease to stand 

Between God's children and the right to land. 

Strike down the Wrong that forces men to give 

Their very lives in toil for leave to live — 

And what a horde of Evils, old and young, 

Will vanish with the Curse from which they sprung 

JUSTICE will find Love waiting at the gates 
Of freedom — even as a queen who waits 
The coming of her exiled King — to save, 
To smite the tyrant and to free the slave. 
When peace and plenty all the world shall bless — 
"Free trade, free land, free men" mean nothing less— 
When fear of want is gone, and every day 
Dawns with its boundless opportunity — 
Then Greed shall hide itself — ashamed to grasp; 
Hand will clasp hand with heartier, nobler clasp, 
And all the varied walks of life will show 



The world with beauty and with l<y 

The Dobler impulses oi lirart and mind 

Will thus bring forth according to their kin 

'v£is vain Invoking Love where Wroi 
Love cannot reign except on freedom's soil! 
Let Justice but the gates of freedom gain 
And Love, unbidden, will begin her reig^n. 

Blest but with freedom, Progress knows no bounds 
In "Single Tax" millennium's trumpet sounds! 
Then ply the wand - the "Single Tax" apply — 

Man made the wrong and (xod tin- remedy! 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



™ 015 908 016 ft 



